mountainman wrote:Is that the same site you got your 1906 answer from, billybud? :wink:

That's an easy date. He might have answered without looking.

When the NCAA formed (under a different name), it was for safety concerns. The rule for passing was included to relieve the tension at the line of scrimmage which was causing many deaths. Also, the rule for having men on the line of scrimage was put in to kill the "wedge" play that was so dangerous. The NCAA was formed in 1906. It's one of those red letter dates in football history that's easy to remembers. Key dates that pop out:

1820s - Football was born
1869 - First intercollegiate game.
1906 - NCAA formed
1912 - Passing was first used
1936 - First AP poll
1937 - NCAA started keeping records and the "modern era" was born.
1940s - First every offense/defense platooning
1950 - First UP poll
1951-4 NCAA enforcement in place
1960s - then death of segragated football
1966 - Michigan State and Notre Dame tie which forces attention on "national championship" and the emphasis grew from there.
1973 - Division structure set up
1979 - Division I split
1982 - further Division I split in an effort to save TV contracts
1980s NCAA loses football contract
1991 - Two consecutive title splits leads to the forming of the Colalition/Alliance/BCS.

Early 90s, end vitual end of the independent as conference scramble for extra teams in order to increase TV revenue and take advantage of a rule created in 1988 for division II, allowing for an exemption for conference championship games.

1994-6 Big 8 and Southwest merge creating a scramble among the mid-majors and leading to the creation of CUSA and an inevitable split of the WAC.

early 2000s - VT and Miami bolt the Big East for the ACC causing another scramble among the Big East and other mid-majors.

"It was John Heisman who convinced the Football Rules Commitee to legalize the forward pass. For thirty-six years, Heisman coached at a number of schools including Auburn, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Pennsylvania, Washington and Jefferson, and Rivce. He, Alonzo Stagg, and Pop Warner, three of the greatest coaches from the turn of the century through the 1920's, constitued the "football Trinity".

Heisman first witnessed a forward pass in 1895 when he scouted a game between North Carolina and Georgia. In order to avoid a blocked punt by onrushing linemen, the Tar Heel punter passed the ball downfield to a teammate who caught it and ran 70 yards for the only touchdown of the game. In response to the Bulldogs' howls of protest, the referee admitted, "I didn't see the ball thrown," thereby allowing an illegal play.
Heisman envisaged the forward pass as the salvation of a sport which had degenerated into dangerous formations and tactics such as the flying wedge and mass plays.

After unsuccessfully attempting for 3 years to convince Rules Chairman Walter Camp to legalize the forward pass, Heisman enlisted the valuable support of committee members John Bell and Paul Dashiell instead. Finally, in 1906, the Rules Committee, college football's governing body, legalized the forward pass. The allowance of the forward pass became the most important development in football since Camp's introduction of scrimmage, the system of downs, and the modern scoring system. The turning away from the unimaginative and brutal mass attack and, instead, toward the open, fast-striking offense with the pass as a weapon appealed to players and spectators alike.

Nonetheless, for the next seven years the pass was rarely used. Then, in 1913, Notre Dame, through the athletic prowess Gus Dorais and Knute Rockne, employed the forward pass with substantial success against the United States Military Academy team. After that game, the forward pass occupied a prominent position in offensive stategy. Heisman, Camp, and Rockne would all later be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame."

mountainman wrote:Is that the same site you got your 1906 answer from, billybud?

That's an easy date. He might have answered without looking.

When the NCAA formed (under a different name), it was for safety concerns. The rule for passing was included to relieve the tension at the line of scrimmage which was causing many deaths. Also, the rule for having men on the line of scrimage was put in to kill the "wedge" play that was so dangerous. The NCAA was formed in 1906. It's one of those red letter dates in football history that's easy to remembers. Key dates that pop out:

1820s - Football was born1869 - First intercollegiate game.1906 - NCAA formed1912 - Passing was first used1936 - First AP poll1937 - NCAA started keeping records and the "modern era" was born.1940s - First every offense/defense platooning1950 - First UP poll1951-4 NCAA enforcement in place1960s - then death of segragated football1966 - Michigan State and Notre Dame tie which forces attention on "national championship" and the emphasis grew from there.1973 - Division structure set up1979 - Division I split1982 - further Division I split in an effort to save TV contracts1980s NCAA loses football contract1991 - Two consecutive title splits leads to the forming of the Colalition/Alliance/BCS.

Those are the ones that spring to my mind.

I have one, who 'invented' the flying wedge and from what school? (it's a trick question)
I read a litte from Encylopedia Brittanica.
The first intercollegiate game should have been between Harvard and Princeton, and they didn't use a football, and the game resembled rugby more than it did football. It took a while for the game to evolve, to it's present state.
In fact, goals were scored only by kicking the ball through a 'goal' not unlike how you do it in soccer (if you kicked over it, it was a 'miss').
You could score a touchdown, but all it did was allow you a 'free kick'.
There weren't any points awarded for one.
That later changed, but 'field goals' were worth more, than touchdowns.
PAT's initally were worth two points. Safeties were worth one.
Field goals I think were worth 4 points. Touchdowns were worth 5.
Obviously they later 'modified' the scoring structure to reflect the modern game but I thnk that wasn't until 1912.
I could write more, but I doubt anyone is that interested in what I have to say.